Let the music play
by YellowAlien13
Summary: Being an aspiring musician is hard, something Tipton knows quite well. No matter how down on his luck he gets however he won't give up until he reaches his dream.
1. Chapter 1

A young boy was sitting at the bar of a tavern called the "Old Sea King". He was sipping slowly from his beer mug making a face close to disgust every time the alcoholic beverage burned down his throat.

His short mud colored hair was ruffled and a mess like it normally was. Only one part was really smoothed back and that was only from him always running his figures through the front, pushing it back. His good eye was gazing at nothing in-particular, every once in a while it would settle on a scotch he would much rather be drinking.

"Would you like a refill?" the bar keep asked. She was a nice young woman probably twenty-two or three in age the same as him. Tipton smiled up at her and nodded. He did not really want to talk to her unless it was necessary. He was worried from the way she had been giving him extra attention that she was hoping to strike up a conversation that would lead to him having to politely turn her down from a date or worse spilling his guts to a complete stranger.

She filled his mug once again, sweet smile still in place.

"So are you a musician?" she asked as she leaned onto the bar counter top, an action that pushed her breast outward of her tight shirt. Tipton took a swig of his beer and looked away nervously. He nodded after a moment, adjusting the guitar on his back as he did so. He was not a musician just yet but he was trying his hardest to become one. That was actually why he was in the Old Sea King, he had just came back from and audition where they basically told him to give up on his dream.

"Are you any good? I mean you have to be a good guitarist because you defiantly can't be a singer Mr. No Talky." the bar keeper giggled in a rather rude and annoying way. Tipton was not happy to be laughed at for the second time today, though the first was for a completely different reason.

"I am ok." he finally spoke, sipping more of his beer. The bar keeper blinked, surprised he had actually said something but the shock on her face was quickly replaced by an interested twinkle in her blue eyes.

"So you do speak." She purred. "And what a pleasant voice too, you shouldn't keep that to yourself." she leaned forward, more of her boobs pushing out towards Tipton. He gulped and leaned back a bit on his stool waiting more space between him and her.

"Thank you. At least someone thinks so." He said then frowned. Did that really just come out of his mouth? He had not meant to say that out-loud.

"Oh? Have you had someone tell you otherwise?" She asked.

"Yeah but not to many." He said and rubbed the back of his head. 'Only my brothers, my dad, and just about everyone I've tried to perform for.' he thought bitterly.

"Oh I'm sorry. How about you sing and play for me I'm sure I'll like it." she smiled an placed her hand on-top of Tipton's right hand. He jerked it away not really liking to be touched. As luck would have it a waitress was passing right into Tipton's blind spot. His hand smacked under her tray of beers and food sending them flying high into the air.

Tipton flinched as he herd plates crashing to the floor followed by a wave of swear words as some other bar patrons were now covered in food or alcohol.

Slowly turning around to asses the damage, Tipton saw angry faces of sailors, the waitress, and a few pirates glared at poor little him.

"Nice going you jerk." the waitress snapped, getting into Tipton's face. Tipton smiled at her weakly and apologized saying he couldn't help it.

"Couldn't help it?" she asked getting angrier by the second. "I was right next to you how could you not see me?" Before Tipton got the chance to explain an even angrier pirate pushed the waitress aside and grabbed Tipton by the front of his shirt.

"You little bastard." the large man growled. Tipton stopped smiling right there. He stared up at the much larger man, his good brown eye was probably size of a dinner plate with fear. His glass eye, the thing that had prevented him from seeing the waitress in the first place, remained stationary. He chewed on his bottom lip nervously as he tried to figure out how hard this guy could probably punch. All in all he most likely looked like a complete retard to everyone else.

"I am so sorry." Tipton crocked out. "I was just distracted from my conversation with the lovely bar keep. Right?" but when Tipton look over expecting to see the bar keeper only found that she had run off and was no where to be seen. 'God why me?'

Tipton slowly looked back at the pissed pirate. Could he negotiate his way out of this mess? Probably not. The guy did not appear to be the sharpest tool in the shed, he most likely did not know what negotiation was. Might as well give it a try though.

"Look can we talk this-" Tipton did not get to finish do to the fist that was so rudely slammed into his face. Tipton saw stars for a moment, his world became a blur of the browns that made up the bar. He felt blood start to flow out of his most likely broken nose.

"Now Sir," Tipton slurred, bringing up his hand in a gesture that said hold on a moment. "There is no need to resort to vio-" Another fist to the face stopped his speech once again. This time however Tipton herd the crack as his nose broke or perhaps it was his glass eye that cracked.

God he hoped not. It had taken him a while to save up to buy that eye and he would be extremely pissed if some Neanderthal broke it over some split alcohol.

Thinking quickly before the brute could punch out what brain cells he had left Tipton yelled at the top of his lungs, "Hey look Marines!" the guy was dumb enough to look like Tipton had hoped. When the man looked back he loosened his grip on the front of his shirt. This allowed Tipton to slip out of the rest of his grasp and bolt.

He ran past the man and his cronies before they even registered he was running away. When they did they yelled and took after him, though they could not catch up to Tipton's lead and gave up after half a mile. Tipton kept running anyway, he figured it was better to put as much distance as he could from himself and his would be murders.

It wasn't until he reached the docks did Tipton stop. He skidded to a stop, a lose layer of earth smoked around his feet as he slid. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggle to catch his breath. Though he wanted to, years of running from his brothers had thought Tipton not to bid over after running.

When he tried to breath through his nose Tipton snorted up blood and pain quickly spread throughout his entire face. He grabbed at some of the extra materiel of his much to large coat and dabbed his nose. He was not worried at all about the blood stains because the sleeves of his jacket, along with various other parts, were spotted randomly with dried blood.

After Tipton waited a few minutes for his nose to stop bleeding, he hobbled off to go find the local doctor or at least someone who could treat his wounds. The local hospitals refused to treat him when they found out he was in fact dirt poor. They pushed him out the doors saying he would be just fine. Tipton was inclined to believe them but his nose really felt like it was broken and he was worried it needed to be set right again.

With not much luck at any private clinics, which were more expensive than the hospital, Tipton wandered aimlessly through the groves. He adjusted his guitar as he walked, he got nervous when people got a little to close though there was no stopping that. The streets were alive with excitement and fear. The recent pirate fiasco and the war between Whitebread and the Marines had everyone abuzz.

Tipton sighed when he got out of the thick of the crowd and was left to roam in the in-between of the groves. He was thanking his stars he had not been here when Supernova's had, though he had nearly been there. If it was not for the storm he would had been on the island the same time they were.

He stopped at the foot of a hill when he herd some shouting from above. Looking up he saw a man being thrown out of a bar at the top of the hill. What the man was yelling about Tipton had no idea, the guy was probably just really drunk which is what Tipton really wanted to be at the moment. If he could not get a doctor to fix his nose he might as well be completely smashed before he tried himself.

He slowly made his way up the hill, the man who had gotten thrown out passed him half way and gave Tipton a weird look. He did not say anything though just shook his head and kept walking. When Tipton got to the top he stared up at the brightly colored bar sign.

"Shakky's Rip-off Bar..." Tipton said slowly, not sure if he read the sign right at first. The building itself appeared off to Tipton. Moss grew along its base, the wood the bar name was painted on was old and appeared to be rotted in some places, and the dome on top of the small build made it look like it belong at a circus. Then again all the buildings on this island were weird.

"Can't hurt anything." Tipton resolved and walked into the bar.

He was pleasantly surprised. The inside of the bar was nice and booze lined the back wall. There was an older woman behind the counter smoking a cigarette. She wore a pink low cut shirt with a spider deco on the front. On top of that she wore a black jacket with white strips running down the length of her arms. A necklace made of large gold beads hung around her spender neck. Her black hair was cropped short and neat.

She was rather pretty and she didn't even look up as Tipton walked in.

He slowly made his way to counter and took a stool a little off to her right.

"I am not going to bite honey. You can come closer." She said with slight amusement ringing in her voice. "But I can see why you would be skittish."

Tipton's shoulders slumped down drastically when he realized he had been tensed. He muscles burned from being wound up and exhaustion hit Tipton like a brick wall. He allowed himself to lay his head down on the counter. It was cool, a calming contrast to his burning aching skin.

"I would like a scotch." He stated without looking up.

"Alright." The lady said, her hills clacked on the wood floor as she walked to get Tipton his drink.

With his eyelids feeling as if they were made of stone, Tipton closed his eyes and slipped off into a deep sleep before the lady got back with his drink.

'At least if I slip into a coma I won't have to pay for the scotch.' The brunette thought.

* * *

What's this a male OC? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS! lol anyway this is a start to a new project I'm working on. I think I didn't miss any mistakes that I made but if you see anything just point them out. :)


	2. Chapter 2

_"You want to be a musician?" An older man laughed, he was middle aged with black hair peppering at his hairline. He patted his round stomach as he laughed. The younger man bit his quivering lip and balled his shaking hands. He was not going to lose his temper he hadn't done so in a long time and his father was not going to break his streak. "That is the silliest thing I've herd from you as of yet._

_"It's my dream." The young man stated firmly, his voice was firm despite the emotional tsunami brewing inside of him. "I will become a musician."_

_The older man stopped laughing and fixed the younger with a hard as steal look. "How do you plan to do that? With you the way you are?" he questioned. He pulled out a cigar and lit it while asking one more question. "Who will listen to you knowing your...condition."_

_The younger man felt like his blood froze in his veins and his skin became petrified._

_"What condition?" he hissed out, though he needed no answer knowing fully well what the other was talking about._

_The older gentleman took a drag out of his cigar seeming to not have herd the anger in the younger's voice. He rudely blew out some smoke in the others face before answering._

_"You." He gestured to all of the younger man. "How you are. How you act. Do you really think anyone will want to higher, let alone listen, to the "type of man" you are?"_

_"This is who I am!" The younger yelled finally snapping. He smacked his hand against his chest for emphasis ._

_"It's not right!" the older man hollered back. He stood, and despite the younger man being quite short, he barely can eye level. "If you acted the way you are suppose to then maybe you would have a chance. But the way you are now you are only going to get eaten alive. I will not allow you to go and allow that to happen."_

_"Screw you!" The younger screamed. "I don't need your fucking permission. I just came by to tell you that that is what I was going to do and that you would not see me for a while!". With that the young man turned on his heels and stormed off._

_Just as he reached the door a finally warning was issued, "If you walk out that door now you will be all on your own Tipton." The name left the old mans lips as if it was being spat out. "Don't you dare come crawling back when things go south."_

_Tipton snorted in disgust and left muttering, "As if I would."_

Tipton groaned as he slowly woke up from his coma like sleep. His dream was still fresh in his mind, making anger from years past bubble up to the surface, rearing its ugly head. It left a nasty taste in Tipton's mouth or perhaps that was just blood.

Speaking of which he didn't feel anymore on his face. Not coming from his broken nose or his busted lip. Both of them actually felt a lot better than they did before he feel asleep. In fact the only thing that felt sore was his neck, which was as stiff as a board.

Tipton groan and moaned as he forced himself fully awake and willed his eye to open. He hissed like a cat as harsh light nearly blinded him on his first attempt. After a few more tries Tipton was able to open his eye fully. At first he had no idea where he was but suddenly he came to the realization that he was still in the bar he was in before he passed out only he was now sitting in a booth instead of a stool. Truthfully he was no more comfortable than he had been.

Tipton striated up from his slouched position, his spine tightened rather painfully as he did so. To fix that problem Tipton rolled his shoulder blades together causing a loud crack that seemed to echo off the walls of the empty bar.

"That sounded pleasant." Tipton looked up at the woman from earlier confused at first by her comment. It took him a moment to realize the remark was made with sarcasm. Tipton simply grunted back as a reply.

He slowly flexed and bent his leg, willing away the tingling feeling that came with appendages falling asleep. It wasn't until he went to scratch he neck did Tipton notice his guitar was no longer strapped to his back. Panic flooded every cell in Tipton's being as he started to frantically look for his beloved instrument.

"You can relax you guitar is here." the woman said. Tipton's head snapped to her so fast he probably got whiplash. She pulled his guitar out from behind the bar-counter. Tipton stood and walked over to take his guitar. He wobbled as he walked, his legs not yet fully awake. He took guitar back and asked why she had it.

"I took off of you shortly after you passed out. I figured it would be easier to prop you up without it strapped to you." she stated and blew out some smoke, in a way it reminded Tipton of how his father use to talk to him.

"Thank you." Tipton said so quietly that most wouldn't have herd him. But she did.

"It is no problem. Normally I wouldn't let people sleep in my bar for days but-"

"Wait days?" Tipton interrupted. "What are you talking about I was only out for a few hours." At least that is what it felt like to him.

"Hun you were out cold for three days. I had thought you slipped into a coma. If you didn't wake up today I would have taken you to the hospital." she stated matter-of-factly. Tipton felt weak and sick. Three days? How could that have happened? It wasn't like that was the first beat down he had gotten and he knew his brothers use to beat him worse.

Tipton licked his suddenly desert dry lips and slumped onto a stool.

"You've done so much already," He said slowly looking up at the woman who had be kind enough to look after him. "But could you possibly get me a glass of water?"

"Only if you promise not the pass out on me this time." the woman stated jokingly. Tipton could only give a weak smile, he was to engrossed in his own thoughts to really give a proper response.

Days? Days! How could he have been out for days? It didn't seem right at all.

'Perhaps I should go to the hospital. After all I basically just slipped into a mini coma.' Tipton thought to himself. 'No, that's not the best idea. I have no money and they won't be kind enough to treat me for free. I've probably used up all the luck I have just for this woman letting me stay.'

Tipton's eyes slid towards the older woman as he thought.

'She was really kind but I bet my glass eye she wants compensation in return. No one owns a bar named Shakky's Rip-off Bar for no reason.'

"Are you listening kid?" the woman asked snapping her fingers in front of Tipton's face.

"Hu, oh sorry. Just thinking." Tipton mumbled.

"Better not think to hard might fry your brain." she smirked and set a glass of water in front of Tipton. "Waters free by the way."

"Thank you." Tipton smiled and gulped down the water.

"Easy kid. Don't drink to fast." Tipton listened only after some water went down the wrong pipe. He coughed into his jacket sleeve hard.

"Told you. So what's your name kid?"

"Why?" Tipton was really worried about the answer.

"So I know who exactly I'm charging."

'Damn.' Tipton decided to play innocent anyway. "Charged what for?"

"I'm not an inn kid. You're just lucky I was feeling really generous. Otherwise I would have thrown your sorry butt onto the street."

"Thanks for not doing that." Tipton smiled weakly and rubbed the back of his head trying to figure a way out of this mess. "So how much to I owe you?"

"What's your name?" A moment of silence passed between them. Tipton wasn't sure he really wanted someone who would shake him down for money knowing his name. The again she was really nice so far and he did owe her greatly.

"Tipton."

"That your family name or your name?"

"Just Tipton." the lady quirked an eyebrow at this but didn't push the subject further.

"Well Tipton I'm Shakky, as for how much you owe me...let's say 30,000 beli."

"What?" Tipton exclaimed before he could help himself. He has never had that much money on him his entire life. He barely has 500 Beli at any given time.

"Is there a problem?"

"Look lady," Tipton said as calmly as he could muster. "I don't have that kind of money. I'll probably never have that kind of money."

"Are you saving you won't pay at all?"

"No, I'm not saying that. Just hold on a minute." Tipton held up he hand and started to dig through his pockets with his other. He dropped lose change and bills onto the contour top as he found money hidden in his jacket. They weren't what he was really looking for.

"Ah ha!" he exclaimed happily as he found his wallet. He opened it up and pulled out a few different things. A few more bills, some coins, a necklace, paper he had scribbled some notes down on, a ring, and some lint.

"I'll give you all my money, which should be about 300 Beli give or take a bit, and the jewelry as well. I really don't know their value but I'm sure it's good. I nipped it off some passing nobles a few days back. Well I guess it would be a while back now hu?" Tipton laughed lightly. Shakky just looked down at the pathetic display for a second then looked back at Tipton.

"I'm really sorry but this is the best I can do right now." Nothing. Tipton was running out of ideas. He really only had two options left and he really was just thinking of opting to the second one. Running away.

"Look how about this give me some time and I'll pay you back in full I promise. I'm not one to skip out on debts." Only if it's really necessary though. "I promise I will pay you back."

She just stated down at Tipton for the longest time. He was getting ready to burst out of the bar at top speed when she sighed.

"Alright."

"Really?" Tipton couldn't believe his luck. Was this really happening. "Thank you so mu-"

"But you have to pay interest."

"Well," Tipton smiled weakly. "That seems far. You got a deal.". He extended his hand out so that they could shake on it and seal the deal.

* * *

Well I sure am updating this faster than normally. Probably won't keep up like that but I hope I can. Find out a bit of Tipton's past and you get a little bit of the push that will be happening later on in the story in this chapter. Review if you like or if you find any mistakes I need to fix.


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